ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich and University Rankings

University rankings can be seen as a consequence of the globalization of higher education, which has lead to a growing need for comparable information about the conditions of education and research at different institutions. Rankings can thus provide useful information to help prospective students, researchers and faculty in their decision-making process.

But universities - their missions, profiles, and the environments they operate in – are extremely diverse, making it impossible to reduce the “quality” of a university or a department to one number or a few criteria. A university may achieve varying results in different rankings, depending on the specific objectives and methodologies of the rankings. Comparing the different results can provide a broader picture of the university’s standing in the respective higher education system.

As a scientific institution ETH Zurich expects its prospective students – as well as politicians, journalists, and any other ‘user’ of the information – to interpret rankings with due care and to inform themselves about the methodology behind the individual rankings before possibly including them in their considerations.